The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Rudbeckia plant, botanically known as Rudbeckia hybrid and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘ET RDB 404’.
The new Rudbeckia plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventors in Boijl, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program is to create new compact Rudbeckia plants with small leaves and attractive long-lasting inflorescences supported by strong peduncles.
The new Rudbeckia plant originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventors in Boijl, The Netherlands in 2011 of a proprietary selection of Rudbeckia hirta×Echinacea purpurea identified as code number 18-6AZU, not patented, as the female, or seed parent with a proprietary selection of Rudbeckia hirta identified as code number 68-A3 68, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Rudbeckia plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant from within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Boijl, The Netherlands in 2012.
Asexual reproduction of the new Rudbeckia by tissue culture in a controlled greenhouse environment in Boijl, The Netherlands since 2012 has shown that the unique features of this new Rudbeckia are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.